Dave
hey Canada folks?
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Gwens Dilemma
- Posts: 88
- Joined: Sun Oct 19, 2008 9:38 pm
- Location: Blenheim Ontario
The middle of April I had some chest discomfort. Within 2 1/2 weeks I had an angiogram, then within 2 weeks I had a double angioplasty. A week later I had chest pains and went to our local hospital. They threw me in a bed immediately. All is great now. Best of all NO BILL. Just my 2 cents worth.
Dave
Dave
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sits in trees
- Posts: 132
- Joined: Sat Jan 31, 2009 11:37 am
not only would you have healthcare you could also hunt with a crossbowsits in trees wrote:you guy's got room for a New Yorker up there who loves the wilderness?? how cold does it really get, and what would be the requirments for a family to move up there???
i believe i could fit right in!!!
If guns cause crime, all of mine are defective
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one shot scott
- Posts: 7033
- Joined: Wed Sep 10, 2008 10:20 pm
- Location: Ontariooh ohh
I have more than my fair share of hospital stays, and all I have to say is that I am happy to have my sorry butt get sick in Canada. Great healthcare with some flaws, but what isnt nowadays thats Govt controled. I hear that wait times have gotten worse over the past 10 years, and there is much room for improvement, but overall a good system. We just need to realize that there is always improvements to be made and make the steps towards them. I hope we never loose this system.
*thumbhole vixen*original relayer*y25relayer*matrix380-
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Grizzly Adam
- Posts: 5701
- Joined: Fri Aug 04, 2006 8:36 pm
- Location: Decatur County, Indiana
The problem with American health care is not the lack of a socialized plan; the problem with American health care is simply GREED. Health care is an industry ... a necessary one, but an industry nonetheless ... and here's the thing: they know they've got you, so they charge what they will.
The greed problem is exacerbated by our litigious society. Because health care providers must prepare to offset the costs of defending against spurious and frivolous lawsuits, they raise the basic greedy prices accordingly.
The health care industry here has the patient in hand, and when they are dangling your life over a barrel, they know they can get you to pay ... as much as you can, and then forever.
I have seen many families financially ruined by common surgical procedures ... forever after enslaved by a debt they'll never be able to pay.
I don't know what the ideal solution is, but I do know this: the prices charged are not worth the money when viewed in the context of actual work done and services provided. Of course it's valuable, and of course it's expensive ... but when I see someone go in the hospital for 10 days and come out owing $ 1.5 million, I know something is gravely wrong. The fact that many health care providers shrug off such exorbitant charges with lame disclaimers like "What is a life worth?" is morally bankrupt and reprehensible.
It's called GREED and EXPLOITATION.
America could go a long way toward solving our health care woes by imposing cap limits on salaries, charges, and costs ... and by cracking down on ridiculous lawsuits and protecting the health care industry against the same.
I know that many, if not most, doctors and nurses and health care workers are good folks with good hearts, who are dedicated to patient welfare and who do their best.
The industry as a whole, though, has some serious problems.
The greed problem is exacerbated by our litigious society. Because health care providers must prepare to offset the costs of defending against spurious and frivolous lawsuits, they raise the basic greedy prices accordingly.
The health care industry here has the patient in hand, and when they are dangling your life over a barrel, they know they can get you to pay ... as much as you can, and then forever.
I have seen many families financially ruined by common surgical procedures ... forever after enslaved by a debt they'll never be able to pay.
I don't know what the ideal solution is, but I do know this: the prices charged are not worth the money when viewed in the context of actual work done and services provided. Of course it's valuable, and of course it's expensive ... but when I see someone go in the hospital for 10 days and come out owing $ 1.5 million, I know something is gravely wrong. The fact that many health care providers shrug off such exorbitant charges with lame disclaimers like "What is a life worth?" is morally bankrupt and reprehensible.
It's called GREED and EXPLOITATION.
America could go a long way toward solving our health care woes by imposing cap limits on salaries, charges, and costs ... and by cracking down on ridiculous lawsuits and protecting the health care industry against the same.
I know that many, if not most, doctors and nurses and health care workers are good folks with good hearts, who are dedicated to patient welfare and who do their best.
The industry as a whole, though, has some serious problems.
Grizz
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sits in trees
- Posts: 132
- Joined: Sat Jan 31, 2009 11:37 am
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sits in trees
- Posts: 132
- Joined: Sat Jan 31, 2009 11:37 am
this pretty much sums it up!Grizzly Adam wrote:The problem with American health care is not the lack of a socialized plan; the problem with American health care is simply GREED. Health care is an industry ... a necessary one, but an industry nonetheless ... and here's the thing: they know they've got you, so they charge what they will.
The greed problem is exacerbated by our litigious society. Because health care providers must prepare to offset the costs of defending against spurious and frivolous lawsuits, they raise the basic greedy prices accordingly.
The health care industry here has the patient in hand, and when they are dangling your life over a barrel, they know they can get you to pay ... as much as you can, and then forever.
I have seen many families financially ruined by common surgical procedures ... forever after enslaved by a debt they'll never be able to pay.
I don't know what the ideal solution is, but I do know this: the prices charged are not worth the money when viewed in the context of actual work done and services provided. Of course it's valuable, and of course it's expensive ... but when I see someone go in the hospital for 10 days and come out owing $ 1.5 million, I know something is gravely wrong. The fact that many health care providers shrug off such exorbitant charges with lame disclaimers like "What is a life worth?" is morally bankrupt and reprehensible.
It's called GREED and EXPLOITATION.
America could go a long way toward solving our health care woes by imposing cap limits on salaries, charges, and costs ... and by cracking down on ridiculous lawsuits and protecting the health care industry against the same.
I know that many, if not most, doctors and nurses and health care workers are good folks with good hearts, who are dedicated to patient welfare and who do their best.
The industry as a whole, though, has some serious problems.
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Pydpiper
- Posts: 6148
- Joined: Thu Nov 30, 2006 4:56 pm
- Location: Woodstock, Brantford'ish, ON
- Contact:
I have learned a few tricks to get around the slow wait in our waiting rooms.. Our visits are usually about kids, simple things so far, so if it is something that doesn't require immediate medical attention I have a few different hospitals I can get to in about the same amount of time. I find that Ingersoll never has a wait time, and even when it does it flows fast, great for those times you know it is just going to result in antibiotics.
Most of the time we go to Paris, great people but terribly slow. I wait patiently, but if I find they stall me because I have the only kid who isn't climbing the walls I speed the process up, just walk to the counter and tell them I have to leave, I have another kid to pick up, the response is always the same, instant admittance.
Our health care is worth it's weight in gold, I did the US thing for many years, it is hard for them to imagine never seeing a bill for a doctor visit. It has flaws though, our good doctors and specialists usually end up going to the US side, for the money. Here the doctors are limited to an income dictated by Canada's guidelines, in the US it is every man for himself/herself, they make as much as they can get away with, that doesn't exactly leave us with the best doctors. I don't mean general practitioners, it is the high end specialists we lack.
Being self employed we really appreciate our health care system, it comes at a cost, but it is great peace of mind.
Most of the time we go to Paris, great people but terribly slow. I wait patiently, but if I find they stall me because I have the only kid who isn't climbing the walls I speed the process up, just walk to the counter and tell them I have to leave, I have another kid to pick up, the response is always the same, instant admittance.
Our health care is worth it's weight in gold, I did the US thing for many years, it is hard for them to imagine never seeing a bill for a doctor visit. It has flaws though, our good doctors and specialists usually end up going to the US side, for the money. Here the doctors are limited to an income dictated by Canada's guidelines, in the US it is every man for himself/herself, they make as much as they can get away with, that doesn't exactly leave us with the best doctors. I don't mean general practitioners, it is the high end specialists we lack.
Being self employed we really appreciate our health care system, it comes at a cost, but it is great peace of mind.
If you are not willing to learn, nobody can help you, if you are willing, nobody can stop you.
A bowhunter with a passion for shooting firearms.
WMU 91
Boo string
A bowhunter with a passion for shooting firearms.
WMU 91
Boo string
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Canad ... story.html
here's a dr that our little town lost to the states about 10 years ago
here's a dr that our little town lost to the states about 10 years ago
If guns cause crime, all of mine are defective
.Grizzly Adam wrote:... but when I see someone go in the hospital for 10 days and come out owing $ 1.5 million, I know something is gravely wrong. The fact that many health care providers shrug off such exorbitant charges with lame disclaimers like "What is a life worth?" is morally bankrupt and reprehensible.
how could anyone ever afford to pay that?
If guns cause crime, all of mine are defective
hey canadian folks
Next time you go to a Canadian Hospital ask for a bill..for cost incured that you won't have to pay ,because our health care cover's it. average cost for one by-pass coronary artery is 30, 000, think about that when your are pxxed off sitting in emerg wainting to see a doctor.
A ward bed is about 1,400 dollars a day no service no nurse. Pretty expensive hotel! Emerg only get's you through the door every thing is extra. Small hospital's do a great job, but if it is a problem that needs a specialist you are going to be transfered to a major center. we are very blessed to live in a country that allows us to be able to see any specialist with out paying a dime.
A ward bed is about 1,400 dollars a day no service no nurse. Pretty expensive hotel! Emerg only get's you through the door every thing is extra. Small hospital's do a great job, but if it is a problem that needs a specialist you are going to be transfered to a major center. we are very blessed to live in a country that allows us to be able to see any specialist with out paying a dime.
Last edited by swiftfox on Mon Jun 15, 2009 7:56 am, edited 1 time in total.
Be the kind of Woman that when your feet hit the floor in the morning the Devil says "Oh! crap She's up"
Being the husband of a nurse...I sincerely wish that hospitals would at least print up a bill for every patient after their stay so they'd have an idea of just how much it cost the Canadian taxpayer for them to receive the care they did.
One of the major problems with our healthcare system is that many people are bringing their sick family members from overseas, not Canadian citizens and going straight from the airport to the hospital. They aren't turned away at the hospital and although they are given a bill, since they have no Health Card, they leave the country without ever paying and there is no follow up to it. Who gets stuck with the bill then? You and I, the Canadian taxpayers. It's an awful thing to say, but people who don't contribute to the system should be required to pay up front.
My wife could go work in the U.S. for a lot more money, but refuses to, because she'd never want to turn a patient away because they couldn't afford the care.
One of the major problems with our healthcare system is that many people are bringing their sick family members from overseas, not Canadian citizens and going straight from the airport to the hospital. They aren't turned away at the hospital and although they are given a bill, since they have no Health Card, they leave the country without ever paying and there is no follow up to it. Who gets stuck with the bill then? You and I, the Canadian taxpayers. It's an awful thing to say, but people who don't contribute to the system should be required to pay up front.
My wife could go work in the U.S. for a lot more money, but refuses to, because she'd never want to turn a patient away because they couldn't afford the care.
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bow hunter
- Posts: 139
- Joined: Thu Dec 12, 2002 3:53 pm
- Location: Kingston, Ont.
I work in IT for the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) and I can assure you our system of health care is far from perfect. But I also know there are good people working in the Ontario Public Service doing thier very best to improve things as best they can by trying to reduce costs without affecting patient care and reducing wait times. Perhaps not in the U.S. but throughout most of the rest of the world the Canadian system is held a model of health care that many countries would love to achieve.